[PLUG] Package Name Lengths in different distros

Keith Lofstrom keithl at kl-ic.com
Fri Jun 10 20:39:16 UTC 2022


> I may up it to 100/150 but if anyone is aware of a package name for any linux distro that exceeds 100 characters that would be helpful to know. I only use a few different distros myself and wasn't expecting to hit this issue.

Hash tables for the long exceptions, as suggested by others.
Balance the time wasted for infrequent table lookups versus
time wasted reading very large null-laden tables from disk.

Consider the possibility that some trickster will bury
exploits in the mostly long null fields, after the newline.

-----

Consider a postal address table, with a fixed field length
for the city name.  Then consider "Bangkok", a European
neologism for:

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์
อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

Romanized:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok
Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan
Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Even the Thai shorten that to "Krung Thep Mahahakhon (Bangkok)" 

Practice the long form.  When you encounter one of
the twits who creates ridiculously long package names,
corner them and blabber about your vacation in Thailand,
mentioning the official Thai (20 second to pronounce)
capital city name frequently.  Watch the twits squirm.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com



More information about the PLUG mailing list